The Latest Scams
By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP
The job search is tough. To add to this stress, there are scams. Here are the 4 most common and recent ones you want to know about.
Priority platforms. These programs are now popping up in online applications. Pay $25 (or some apparently reasonable amount) and you get prioritized in the ATS queue. This might include adding documents (i.e. cover letter and references) to “make the process easier for the hiring team.” The ATS (applicant tracking software) is the system that companies use to organize and track applicants for one or more jobs. So you’re paying it to “fight” any ATS technology for a priority spot. There are so many problems with this that I can’t get into right now, but understand that it’s also available to the 98% of desperate applicants who are completely unqualified for the job. No tech is getting around the knock-out questions that you answered and the hiring team people who are manually reviewing every application. Most hiring people still look at every resume (especially in Fortune 50 companies).
If you see this offer, ignore it and continue on with your application.
ATS optimization / ATS friendly / ATS compatible. This is related to the “ATS compatible” reference above. Any time anyone approaches you to make your resume “ATS optimized” or “ATS friendly”, run far and run fast. There is no such thing. Each ATS offers a variety of features that the ATS user (a member of the hiring team) may or may not use. Each search, each application assessment, and each resume review is done by a person. NOONE can presume to know how hiring works inside a company.
Technology platform: An IT or AI specialist, or a software engineer, says they have the “in” for you, and all you have to do is use their technology. This is a lighter scam because I believe the person doing it saw their friends suffering in the job search, or they suffered themselves, and in response they then developed software that they boast is better than anything else out there to help people land jobs. I want to believe that these people have good intentions, but they’ve never been on the hiring side, and their claim to expertise (according to their bios on their websites) is that they got a job (or jobs), so others should follow their lead. Some of them have 100K+ followers on social media, and I feel bad for every one of them.
Recruiters requiring a resume writer. This has been going on for years. A recruiter finds you on LinkedIn, or texts you, or emails you saying that they have a perfect job for you. But they can’t show you the job yet. After you send them your resume, they assess that it’s not what the company wants, or it’s not “ATS compatible,” and to get the job you must pay to use their resume writer to make it right. Then the job never materializes.
One of my friends was contacted by an executive recruiter who liked him for a company that he had left years before. After my friend said no, a resume writer followed up, asking if he needed her services. That’s just bad form.
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